Cherub: Just Another Recruit
by Renegade197
Summary: Who knew that the life of a girl could change after a day at school? After a day that Alison thought was hell she had no idea what would happen after the day and why it would happen. Soon Alison realizes that school is the least of her hell as she is sent through dangerous undercover missions tracking Leonid Aramov who was thought to be dead 2 years ago.
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

Alison dreaded the 2 hour period of science that she had to cope with on a Monday afternoon. It seemed to drag out across an eternity as she found herself looking at the clock at nearly every 10 second interval. Alison had none of her friends in her science class and the class was always near silent. She always failed at science tests and after a while got used to the teachers constant moaning.

The bell went and it was if she's been ejected from the chair as she bolted towards the door, she'd survived through hell… or that's what she thought.

**Chapter 1**

Alison exited the school with everyone else through the gate, however the gate wasn't big enough to allow an exhausted horde of school children out of them so she had to barge a lot to get through.

Her home was a few miles, she would have got the bus but she was out of money and her only choice was to walk. She lived with her grandma as her mum apparently disappeared and never showed up again and her dad was probably somewhere drinking his life away after their divorce.

Her grandma donated a lot of her money towards charity but never told her which one which seemed very odd to her as her grandma never kept secrets from her very often.

It was winter and the sky was getting dark _very_ quickly, Alison looked at her watch and saw that the time was 4:23 and she still had another half a mile to walk before she made it to her grandma's house. Her grandma's house was a few roads away from the town square so it was easy enough to get home by the time she reached the town. The sky had turned a very dark blue colour as the sun made it's descend across the sky and the old town lights painfully flickered on.

No one seemed to be around but the sound of feet shuffling made her turn at numerous occasions. Fear and panic started to fill her veins as she turned around a last time and found nothing again, she turned to continue her journey but ended up walking into someone.

"Woah! I'm sorry." She said as she tried to walk around the figure. She had a couple of seconds to study him and saw that he was wearing a black hoodie and baggy jeans that seemed to pile up at the bottom of his leg due to the length.

The figure reached out and grabbed Alison by the throat and lifted her about half a foot off the ground and revealed a creepy smile.

"We have a bone to pick with you Miss" He said with a very deep voice and let off a slow and creepy laugh after.

Then the figure entered a spasm and dropped Alison before falling to the floor in another set of spasms. She saw a chord attached to the man's back which looked like a tazer.

"If you want to live you better come with me" The woman at the end of the tazer shouted at her, Alison was confused as scared about what just happened let alone who this woman was.

"You coming or not?" The woman shouted again but this time Alison responded as she started to sprint towards her.

The woman rounded the corner and Alison was not far off her heels.

"Keep going!" She shouted as she stopped at a corner and let off a few bullets from a pistol and ducked back into cover as the figures returned gunfire of their own. One bullet implanted itself into a wall in front of Alison and she stopped and screamed but was forced to run again as the woman gave her a shove in the back.

The woman revealed some keys from her pocket and threw them with a light swing towards Alison.

"Get the car open while I keep these bastards back!" She screamed, it didn't take Alison long as she turned the key in the door and in the ignition and the car's engine stalled for a second but the revved into life. Alison hopped over to the passenger seat and the woman took the driver's seat and floored the accelerator, the force threw Alison back into her seat as they drove down an abandoned looking street.

* * *

The figure watched as the car drove into the darkness and knew that the boss wasn't going to be very happy. He pulled out a phone a dialled the number, dreading what was probably to come.

* * *

Alison was nearly breathless and her face had turned pale. The woman looked over at her.

"Check the glove box, there should be some water in there, it's all yours" She said, it was only now that Alison realized the small hint of Russian within her accent.

"Where are you taking me and who were those guys!?" She asked as her voice got more and more high pitched as she asked on.

"I'm taking you somewhere safe, I can't say where but it's a lot safer than here, and those people were henchmen for Leonid Amarov. He escaped Mexico before we could stop him and is now after your grandmother's money." She replied calmly, doing her best to try to calm down Alison but it didn't work very well.

"What does my grandma have to do with this?" Alison asked

"She has a lot to play in this game, do you know the money that she donates to 'charity'?" She took her hands off the wheel for a second to make small quotation marks with her fingers.

"Yeah…" Alison was getting curious of how this woman knew all of this but decided to just listen on.

"Let's just say that it's not going towards a charity, and you'll see what it's going towards soon enough." She said with a smirk.

"I don't think I've introduced myself, I am Vina Kazakov. A member of an organization called the TFU which try to stop people like terrorist and drug dealers threatening the lives of innocent civilians. I enlisted after my husband Yosyp was murdered during an undercover mission. I believe you are Alison Dalis, 14 years of age and lives on the outskirts of Rochester, am I correct?"

Alison gasped in awe at how much this woman that she's known for no longer than 15 minutes knew so much about her.

"How do you know this!?" She asked, nearly stumbling on every word.  
Vina reached down into the side pocket of the door and brought out a file and put it on Alison's thigh. She began reading, everything was there: her place of birth, her mother and father's name, her birthdate, even her passport picture. Alison closed the file and just looked into the darkness, completely in awe.

* * *

Can people PLEASE leave reviews so I know how I'm doing with this so far, thanks :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Alison went quite for the rest of the journey to their unknown destination. She had too many questions rushing through her head to even think where to begin.

"What does TFU stand for" Alison began

"The Transnational Facilitator Unit. Try saying that when you're drunk" Vina replied with a snigger.

For the first time since the shootings Alison laughed knowing that she was safe for now.

* * *

Boris switched to the thermal scope on his sniper and the car lit up like a Christmas tree. He put his two forefingers to the radio in his ear to make sure it was working.

"Got them in my sights" He said "I can take the shot now". Boris was eager to prove himself to his father Leonid Aramov badly but always rushed in with clumsy solutions.

"No, we need her alive Boris" Leonid replied to his eldest 23 year old son.

"Oh come on Dad!" He nearly shouted and sounded like a 5 year old kid who wasn't getting his own way.

"No Boris! I agreed to take you back into my care after all you did before you ungrateful little shit, now do what I say or I'll be getting a sniper to take you out of my life for good!"  
The radio went silent after and the car had passed the cliff and the chance of eliminating their target had been lost. As Boris got up he swung the strap on the sniper over his shoulder and cursed to himself in Russian.

"I'm never going to please father again"

* * *

As Vina drove down the road she was happy to be joking around with Alison to pass the time but she soon came to a sudden halt.

"Why have we stopped?" Alison asked, fearing another shoot-out was imminent.

"I can't let you see where we're going." Vina said calmly.

"Why?" Alison asked.

"You'll find out soon, now we can do this the easy way…" She pulled out a blindfold in the left hand "Or the hard way" and she pulled out an injection in the right hand. "Your choice" She offered.

Alison immediately went for the blindfold

"I don't feel like drugs tonight" She joked and Vina smiled.

"Didn't think you were up to it, looks like you're not as tough as I thought" Vina teased.

Alison grinned "Go fuck yourself" She joked back.

"Watch it! I just saved your life, you're in _my_ debt now" Vina replied with a small grin to show that she wasn't being too serious.

Alison put the blindfold over her eyes and sat back, then the car started to accelerate again.

"You better get some sleep, you're gonna have a big day tomorrow." Vina suggested and for the first time Alison did as she was told

* * *

Alison woke up on a bed and looked at a 12 hour clock and saw that it read 15:23. As she rose from the bed the door opened and Vina appeared around the corner.

"You _are_ a heavy sleeper aren't you?" Vina said, but she kind of stated the obvious.

Alison shrugged "My specialty" She joked.

"Put this on and meet me outside" She said as she threw an orange coloured T-shirt at her.

As Alison put on the T-shirt she noticed the logo that was on the front of it.

"Cherub?" She asked herself and raised an eyebrow at the name but soon got up and walked out the door.

"Took you long enough to put on a T-shirt" Vina said with a smile as she gave Alison a light punch in the shoulder.

As they exited the building the air was cold from the upcoming season of winter and the short-sleeved orange T-shirt that she was forced to wear didn't help keep her body heat. Alison saw many other kids, some her age and others a lot younger. Many of the kids who looked only 9 or 10 wore red T-shirts while other older ones wore grey or black and a few others wore blue T-shirts.

"What do all these different shirts mean" Alison asked as she got as close to Vina as she could.

"They're all staring at me" She added.

"Don't worry about it" She said as she let out a laugh "Everyone you see has gone through that at some time. You'll learn about the T-shirts when we speak to the Chairwoman"

It took a couple of minutes to walk across from one side of the campus to the other and they entered a building which looked like a typical city office block but it felt no warmer inside than it did out.

Vina stood next to a door on the right hand side of the room "She's waiting for you" She said and then walked off.

Alison watched her walk off and the pushed open the door and a friendly voice greeted her.

"Welcome to Cherub Alison. Please, have a seat"

She took the offer and sat.

"Are you impressed with what you've seen so far?" The woman at the desk asked.

Alison was spoilt for words as the only thing she said was "Its definitely different but confusing"

"How so?" The woman asked as she put her elbows on the table and extended the bottom of her arms towards Alison.

"All the different coloured T-shirts, all the kids that are here. What is Cherub exactly?"

The woman laughed "Let me introduce myself first, I am Zara Asker, the Chairwoman of Cherub." She said as she held out her hand and Alison shook hands with her in greeting.

"Now, your questions? Zara replied

They went on for hours with Alison's constant questions and Zara's very detailed answers that took several minutes to complete. Looking around the room Alison saw pictures of Zara with the same man next to her in several other pictures which was no doubt her husband. Zara's desk was covered in different pieces of paper which littered any space that remained but most were covered in weird coding which made Alison's brain spin in confusion.

After she left Zara's office she knew nearly as much as most of the adults did and it only took her a matter of hours to learn it all. Alison learned that this campus would be her home where she would stay and train with other young agents such as herself until she was old enough to be kicked out or be offered a job there as a trainer.

She also dealt with her confusion about the T-shits and knew what the different colours meant:

Orange – For guest who were going to be staying to become an agent themselves.  
Red – For kids who lived on the campus but are too young to qualify as agents.  
Blue – For kids who are going through Cherub's 100 day basic training regime .  
Grey – For kids who have successfully completed the 100 day basic training regime.  
Navy – For outstanding performance on a mission.  
Black – For outstanding performance on several missions.  
White- For staff and for retired Cherub agents.

Alison had only been on the campus for less than 24 hours and learnt that she was going to go through the 100 day basic training regime in less than a week which made her very nervous.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Alison was thrown into the 100 day basic training regime in less than a week of being on campus. It was tough though, getting up at nearly 6:00 every morning wasn't a time that she would have chosen to get up at.

There were a few others that she had to do her basic training however most of them got on her nerves _very _quickly. Alison had been through many different stages of training from driving to stealth missions and survival out in the open to shooting guns. Her feet had hurt a lot for the past 3 days from the constant driving lessons and her shoulder hurt too from recoil of the guns.

Her next test was a 2 week survival out by the other Cherub campus on an island in the Mediterranean; she hoped that this survival would be alone as 2 weeks with constantly complaining 10 year olds got on her nerves before a day had even ended.

They had a backpack each but only Alison, 10 year old Steve and 11 year old Jason stood in the middle of the abandoned forest.

"Now! Your mission is to use the survival skills that you've learnt over the past week and see how well you do alone. You are aware that there are radio pieces in each of ears that if you're not man enough to handle this you can call for extraction and every day that you're out of this exercise will be a mark taken from your overall score, or if I'm feeling generous I'll make it a hundred punishment laps for every day you chicken out of! Do I make myself clear!?"

"Sir, yes sir!" They all seemed to chant in sequence.

"And a bit of advice, try not to carry more than you need" He added

"Now go, this exercise determines whether you pass or not" He said, narrowing his eyes on Alison.

She turned and ran into the forest.

* * *

She deliberately ran in the opposite direction to Jason and Steve so she could have some peace for once and the fact that she loved being alone in a lush and dense forest. The ground was bone dry so she didn't hesitate to sit down and unzip her backpack. There was no food but there was only half a bottle of water and a 10ft piece of rope.

"I hope this rope is for hanging myself" She joked "Won't have to put up with Jason or Steve ever again" She laughed at the thought but discarded it quickly as the sudden voice through the ear-piece made her jump.

"Oh and I forgot, there will be crate drops every two or three days so keep your eyes peeled for them, there may be reinforcements along with them that will try to hunt you down, they will be using rubber stun rounds and you are NOT permitted to use guns in retaliation, no matter of your situation. I repeat, you are NOT permitted to use guns under any circumstances!"  
"Well that's shooting myself out of the window as well I guess" She joked again but soon realized that no one was around to hear her. Or hopefully there wasn't.

She re-packed her backpack and added some heavy-ish stones until it was full and then attached the rope around the handle of the bag and swung it over the top of a sturdy looking branch, the backpack hit the floor with a thud next to her. She pulled down on the rope to see if the branch was stable enough to hold her weight.

She climbed up into the tree and left her bag in the center of the tree where the branches separated in different directions which meant that she would have no worry of the bag falling out of the tree during the night.

Before jumping down she made a triple knot (that she had learnt during training) with the rope around the tree branch before sliding down the rope. The slide burnt her hands very slightly from the friction.

"Meh, I'll live" She said to herself.

The center of the forest was a large open area in which they started in and it became obvious that if anything would drop crates in then it would be here. Alison hid in the bushes for hours and could frequently hear Jason and Steve arguing with each other because of the lack of food and water.  
However her waiting paid off in the end, the day had turned to dusk so the flare stood out with a bright green light, the sound of the helicopter's blades made the trees sway from the breeze that it was causing. The crate landed and the helicopter flew off, although it was tempting Alison looked around for anyone else that had been dropped off with the crate but there was no one. It was best to get anything she wanted and get out before Jason and Steve came along and began to argue with each other for whom would get what.

As she opened the crate, there was a lot of tempting stuff but she knew that much of it would serve no purpose to her. A bow and a few arrows stood out to her at first so she lunged in for them and took a few more bottles of water. There was also a pack of matches, however upon closer inspection she found that there were only 4 matches left in the box but the side of the box said 200 matches.

"I wish I had two hundred matches" She said to herself.

The shouts of Jason and Steve got closer so she put the sheath of arrows over her right shoulder and held the handle of the bow with her left hand a bolted back into the forest but took some time to admire Jason and Steve's pain as they found that most of the good stuff was gone.

"It's all shit!" Jason screamed

"Alison must have got here before us" Steve replied.

"How? This only dropped less than a minute ago?" Jason wasn't the brightest kid in basic training.

"She waited dipshit!" Steve shouted back "Use your brain, oh wait you don't have one!" He added.

Alison was laughing in the bushes but decided it was wise to leave before she ended up in a laughing fit and giving away her position. Their arguing echoed through the trees as they were so loud.

"Why didn't you wait here before you prick!?" Jason's voice echoed through the forest.

It wouldn't be long before they were doing nearly a thousand punishment laps or had 10 marks deducted, knowing the trainer he'd probably give them both.

The instructor's voice came through her ear-piece and made her jump once again.

"You may use that bow for hunting but I FORBID you to use it in any combat situations, clear?

"Crystal" She replied.

"Good" He said before the radio went silent once more.

She had used a bow a few times in basic training but had a bit of difficulty aiming with it but it was her only source of food at the moment so her choices were limited. She hadn't noticed before but there were a lot of wild rabbit scuffling in the undergrowth, no doubt put in by the instructors seeing that it would probably be rare to see a wild rabbit on some small island in the middle of the Mediterranean.

She took out one arrow and attached the back of it to the silk string of the bow and pulled back and aimed, after a couple of seconds of aiming she released the arrow, it made a whizzing type sound as it flew through the air and made contact with the rabbit through its torso. The rabbit squealed for a few seconds before going limp, Alison walked over to the corpse of the rabbit and took out the arrow and started to skin the rabbit of its fur and its insides, it was quite a bloody procedure but she was desperate for food. She built a fire by putting some moss and leaves in the middle of the fire and then put thin sticks in a cone type shape over the top.

Alison took out the matches and struck one against the side of the box and it ignited, she held the match to a couple of leaves and made sure that they caught fire before putting in the match as well and giving the first small blows of oxygen to get the fire going and before long Alison had a fire that she could use to cook the rabbit and stay warm with also.

It was going to be a long two weeks…


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Days under the trees made Alison sweat from the extreme heat and nights left her shivering from the cold. It was now day 6 and the crate drops kept coming. Mostly full of crap but Jason and Steve who looked as if they'd bonded into a group by now packed their backpacks with random crap and headed off. Alison was too tired to fight for the supplies as the sound of crickets echoed loudly like a chant throughout the forest and flies that landed on her skin irritated her extremely.

Alison collected the remains of what was useful from the crate which was usually bottled water and more matches. However most of the stuff was crap, ammo clips which served no purpose as there were no guns and they were also forbidden to use them anyway.

For the first time in ages Alison wondered how dirty she was, her brown long hair was covered in dirt and was greasy as hell, it was a time like this where she would have killed for a bed, a hot shower and a hot meal. The days went by very slowly and the promise for people hunting them down had been short lived as no one had appeared to find them within the week that they had been there for and the sense of survival had faded after the first three days.

* * *

Day 14 was their last day in training, or it was Alison's last day in training as Jason and Steve had been hunted down and failed to gain the last marks for surviving the two whole weeks.  
Alison stuck to hiding in bushes and the undergrowth when the squad that had been sent in three days earlier had been sent in.

Her ear-piece picked up her trainers last message before she had her grey T-shirt tight within her grasp.

"Your last task is to now find your grey T-shirt, which could be hidden anywhere. You have until sunset to find it. Out"

The ear-piece went silent for the last time.

"Well this should be fun" Alison told herself as her eyes scanned a huge, dense forest that she had until sunset to scan around for a T-shirt that determined if she had passed or miserably failed.

* * *

Leonid Aramov sat round a table with other heads of small terrorist groups, after he had gotten out of Mexico with the money that he made from selling the PGSLM missiles before the TFU had destroyed his plans along with the factory that was carrying out his orders. He escaped to Russia while using the news of his 'supposed' death to get through border patrols with fake I.D without the authorities batting an eyelid.

"Mr Aramov, I believe you still have the plans for this missile that you were in the process of constructing? Aleksei asked. He was heavily built and his muscles were huge which made him quite a formidable enemy if hostile.

"You believe right, I managed to save the plans about an hour before the facility was blow sky high by the American government." Leonid replied with a smug tone. Aleksei gave a small laugh and then stood while having his eyes glued on Leonid and his grin turned to quite a serious look.

"Being so smug might get you killed around here. I _know_ you were feared back in Kyrgyzstan but you're no more than a street rat here, you ran one of the biggest smuggling organizations and you were brought down by your own family so you have _nothing _to be smug about Leonid!" Aleksei replied, his eyes narrowed on Leonid to show his hostility.

Leonid took that as a threat and immediately stood to stand his ground.

"Looks like I hit a nerve. Look, sit down. Or do I have to break your legs to make you" Aleksei added. Leonid was losing by now and was tempted to throw himself at Aleksei, however he didn't want to lose his chance to be big again by acting like a small child throwing a tantrum. Leonid took his seat again and continued while trying to hide his anger.

"Tamara shot me and believed that I was dead which got the TFU off of my back and gave me the chance to get out of Mexico with the plans and start anew. Now, I came here to ask you for the necessary funding for the facility to be re-built and to start production again." Leonid said, this time trying to not aggravate Aleksei again.

"What do I get out of this if I give you the funding for this?" Aleksei asked, desperate for his side of the bargain.

"Split it both ways. Fifty-fifty" Leonid replied.

Aleksei seemed happy with the bargain and complied with the offer. Aleksei rose from his seat and went to exit but turned to face Leonid.

"You fuck with me and it'll be the last thing you do" He said before disappearing into the corridor. The other leaders rose from their seats and began to exit but Leonid stayed and thought to himself 'Do I want to re-live my past?'

* * *

Alison found the grey T-shirt hanging from a branch high up in a tree; however the branch was right above where the squad of men had made camp. Alison stayed in a crouched stance and moved very slowly to avoid attention that she did not want to attract. She could hear them joking around with each other and seemed undetermined to even try to find their last victim. Alison had no idea if they knew that her T-shirt laid above them but if not it was very coincidental that they had made camp right under its location. Alison climbed the tree nearest to the T-shirt which was very risky as the squad could see her at any moment. Everything was going perfectly as she made her way over the branch and towards the T-shirt. She reached for it and got a slight grip of it as the branch began to crack. She had no time to recover as the branch snapped and she fell to the ground and right in the sight of the squad. She landed with a thud and her whole body ached and all the oxygen in her lungs was forced out as she hit the floor. The squad raised their guns to her but did nothing else.

"It's over young lady" One of them said.

"I think not" She said with a huge smile as she brought up the grey T-shirt in her grasp. "I think it's over for you though"


	5. Chapter 5 - Back to Campus

**Chapter 5**

Alison slept during her flight back to campus, or at least tried to as Jason and Steve were constantly shouting and gazing in awe at the ocean below. Her eyes couldn't take much more of what they were being forced to deal with. Even sitting down felt like heaven to her, all of her body ached and her back even more after falling out of the tree on the last day of training. She was pleased to have her grey T-shirt however, at least the past one hundred days of pain and agony hadn't been for nothing.

* * *

The car drove into the campus and Alison had the blindfold on again but she was considering the anesthetic as it would give her a few more hours of sleep. When she stepped out of the vehicle Vina was already there to meet her.

"I knew you could do it!" She nearly shouted as she gave her a light punch in the shoulder.

"I'm glad it's over now, I ache from head to toe" Alison replied.

"I suppose you do after you fell out that tree at that height!" Vina replied.

"You were watching me?" Alison asked.

"Sure I was, well I was in the last exercise, _and _you outlasted your other two friends by nearly a week." Vina replied with an average smile.

* * *

Vina showed Alison the house where she would be staying with five other people but Vina left before Alison went in.

Alison walked up to the front door and knocked a few times in succession and waited for someone to answer. It didn't take long for the door to open to reveal a black haired girl standing there standing back at her, her eyes were narrow which suggested that she had come from an Asian country like Japan or China. She had brown eyes and looked very intimidating in the way that she stood.

"Hi, I'm Alison, I was told to come here" Alison didn't feel too confident to say anymore. The girl's face lightened up with a smile.

"Alison! We were told you would be coming but we didn't know when. Anyway I'm Ning, I'm fourteen" She held out her hand and Alison took it and they shook.

"Hey, you guys, get down here! She's arrived!" Ning shouted.

In seconds two others were already by the door to greet her.

"This is Max Black, he's also fourteen" He raised his hand and gave a slight wave. "But he's still a bit of a prick at times" Ning said lowering her voice so Max wouldn't hear

"Hey, I heard that!" Max shouted at Ning.

"You were supposed to dickhead" Alison could tell that Max and Ning weren't the bests of friends but the slight hostility reminded her of her old school and her old friends and she let out a laugh that was louder than she wanted it to be. Max's hair colour matched his last name, black and he had blue eyes that seemed to gleam in the light.

"And this is Alfie DuBoission he's going on fourteen in a few months; not as annoying as Max but still a bit of a dick" Ning said with a smile.

"I can now see why most people have a slight hate for you Ning" His French accent was very small but noticeable as he spoke.

"Fight me Frenchy, or are you too scared?" She taunted at him.

Alfie was a medium height and spoke with a lot of confidence but he still backed down from Ning's taunting. He had a mixed blonde-brown hair colour that seemed to suit him very well and had green eyes which didn't seem to stand out very much.

"Get pissed" Alfie replied at her but said nothing more. There was a long pause as Ning scanned the room and saw that two people were missing.

"Where are Ryan and Grace at?" Ning asked.

"Probably raining Armageddon upstairs" Alfie replied and left Max laughing as well.

Ning ran up the stairs while shouting "Oi, love birds! Don't be so bloody ignorant!"

The door opened and the two other people came storming out while shouting at each other.

"Jesus Ryan you're such an immature prick, has anyone ever told you that?!" The blonde girl screamed.

"You're calling me immature, you're the one who threatened to shove your hockey stick up my ass last week and I have by you for nearly the 100th time now, my life would be so much easier if you behaved like your real age instead of your mental age!" The brown-haired boy shouted back at her.

"God I hate you _so _much!" The blonde girl screamed once more before going back up the stairs pushing past Ning and slamming the door which sent a loud echo through the house.

The brown-haired boy looked back up and replied "Then that makes two of us"

By this time Max and Alfie were in hysterics and Ning was on the verge of breaking down and Alison had completely lost it, she was nearly in tears from the argument that had only lasted about 30 seconds. The brown-haired boy didn't look too amused however.

He approached Alison and held out his hand "I'm Ryan Sharma" Alison's chest was aching from the laughter and it took her a few seconds to raise her hand to grip Ryan's hand.

"Alison Dalis" She replied, now trying to act serious but it wasn't working and only made her laugh even more from the infectious laughing from Max, Alfie and Ning.

"Pleased to meet you" Ryan said before their grip loosened.

Alison looked around the front hall of the house, it wasn't huge but it was big enough for her liking. The walls were painted a dark cyan blue colour and seemed to fill out the room more and the carpet was a beige colour which made the dirt on the floor stand out more and it didn't really go with the wall colour.

"Come on, I'll show you where you'll be. The girls sleep in one room while the boys sleep in another. It avoids Grace wanting to slit Ryan's throat during the night." Ning said as a joke but thinking about it from what Alison had seen from Grace so far she wouldn't mind seeing Ryan dead on the floor.

"That would be quite gruesome" Alison replied.

"Yeah and try getting the blood of off this carpet!" Ning replied back which made Alison laugh and made her chest hurt even more.

Alison had begun to like Ning, even though she had experienced her being quite tormenting towards the other boys she was a great laugh.

As they entered the room Grace sat on the bed in the far left corner and had her head in her hands.

"Hey, Grace." Ning said as she gave her a slight shove. "Say hello to Alison"

Grace raised her head and looked at Alison.

"Hi" Was all she said before putting her head back into her hands.

"Let's just say Grace and Ryan haven't gotten on very well since Ryan got back from his mission in Kyrgyzstan." Ning finally said breaking the silence.

"I think I've already seen that" Alison replied as she put her bag down by the bed slumped on the bed.

"Heaven at last" She said as the bed's comfort welcomed her.

"Not with Grace's and Ryan's constant arguing. I could think of many places that are more heavenly than this" Ning replied before also slumping down on her bed as well.


	6. Chapter 6 - Reflection

**Chapter 6 - Reflection**

It all happened so quickly, her life changed in front of her eyes in mere moments. One day she thought nothing would steer her from her previous life but now she was at Cherub. As she laid on the bed vast amounts of questions rushed through her head, demanding answers. She would lay on her bed while searching her mind for the answers that she requested but after hours of nonstop thinking the answers that she was now demanding seemed to lay further and further in a layer of fog, she was unable to see the truth as why she was so important to come here, was it because she was in danger or did her grandmother send her here. Did her grandmother even know where she was?  
Her previous life felt miles away, she'd been pushed to limits that she had thought that she would never be able to pass up to. She would lay in trance-like state thinking about the people that she once knew, forbidden to even make contact with them again, she started to wonder if they even missed her at all or if anyone was looking for her or was she going to be one of the missing people that no one could give a damn about. So many questions and not enough time to answer them. The silence let her think but there were numerous times where she thought she had reached her answer only to be snapped back into reality by Ryan and Grace entering the house and emitting their voices so that Alison could hear every word they said.  
Ning had suggested to take it easy for the week but Alison was under constant stress, if she was brought her due to her protection then it made her feel insecure that someone was out there who was trying to harm her in some way, but what had she done? Scanning her mind nothing came to play and her search for answers only came with more questions that soon started to irritate her.

She had only been on the campus with her new roommates for just under a week but she already started to feel like a part of the crew, they spent Friday nights gathered up in front of a TV watching some sort of horror film, the last film they saw was Paranormal Activity where Ryan accused race of shitting herself which resulted in Grace throwing popcorn at Ryan's face. Even though hostility towards other roommates seemed like it would tear them apart it seemed to bring them closer together and realize that their friendship was all they had left. Mission requests had been at the all-time low so it gave the six of them time to gather together and appreciate each other's presences because in Cherub anything can happen, one minute they could all be there and if it gets to the highest rate of worse, then they might not be there at all.

She spent countless nights lying on her bed, unable to get sleep as the silhouette of the man that had attacked her in the town flashed up in nearly all her dreams and his shallow and deep laugh emanated in her ears which made her awake with a gasp. The thought only added to her questions: _Who _was out to get her and what for? She wished she could ask someone but she hadn't been able to talk to Vina because of her recent departure for a minor mission and Zara always seemed to be occupied with some other business. She could kill for answers. It was killing her knowing that someone wanted to kill her for a reason that she didn't fully understand, make that understand at all.

Her week off passed and she was forced into boring lessons that left her on the verge of sleeping only to be saved by the loud bell indicating another tedious lesson. She felt like she was sleepwalking in between lessons but with only slightly more consciousness than you would if you _were_ sleepwalking. She died to be called into her first mission but as days passed more and more agents were being dispatched with older members of the TFU and soon only Ning, Max and Alison were the only ones left in their house. The constant arguments left the house in an eerie silence which may have given Alison more time to think over the questions that seemed to flow like blood through her veins but the arguments strangely took away the homely feel for the house. It was quite, the way that Alison liked it but she missed hearing Grace and Ryan's voices and hoped that they were fine on their missions because if not… then she had lost two of her best friends in the space of a week.

* * *

Leonid stared over the railing of the walkway of his underground construction facility, admiring the sight of hundreds of PGSLM missiles running on a conveyor belt and through a hole in the rock wall and ready for departure. However these missiles were being loaded by the dozen every minute which would cause uncontrollable levels of chaos if he got the opportunity to use them. Machines did all the work, loading in remote explosives and carefully sealing the holes in the side once again. Leonid still stared at the construction work and gave a smug smile, he was going to make a fortune off of this! Irene clearly underestimated him, she thought that he would never recover the might of the Aramov Clan after all their wealth was lost when his nephew Ethan had hacked his computer to gain access to his bank accounts and then locking him out. He would gain the power that he once desired and he would prove that the Aramov Clan would fight back in full force, he wasn't going to let anyone who had betrayed him before live, he swore on it, his ex-wife Tamara had tried to kill him in his bath over two years ago and believed she had but the bullet had hit a vital nerve in his shoulder which sent him into a spasm for a couple of seconds before being forced in unconsciousness which made him seem like she had achieved her deed. But now he hated everyone, he only had the support of his two sons Alex and Boris while his youngest son had also betrayed him and given the location of his previous construction facility to the TFU. He wanted revenge and the wealth that he was about to gain would make sure that no one would dare to have the nerve to cross Leonid Aramov _ever_ again.

* * *

**Author's Note**

**I'm trying to make this more exciting now, I know it started off quite slow but if you could have just a few seconds to  
what you think of this so far then please do. If you're not enjoying it then say and what I could do to make it more interesting  
but its not going to get any more interesting if you don't say anything so ****_please_**** say what you think of this story. Thank you to the people who have dragged themselves though the story so far to get to this point. :D**


	7. Chapter 7 - An Old Threat Returns

**Chapter 7 – An Old Threat Returns**

Alison sat on the couch in the living room while staring at a blank screen, the TV was 32x28 inches and it probably wasn't enough space to place all of her most wanted answered questions on, she entered her trance like space and tried to think about one question at a time but they all seemed to rush by like people running past her vision to catch a nearby bus, she had no time to inspect them. The doorbell's chime snapped her out of her thinking state and she got to her feet and went over to the door. She pushed down the handle and pulled it open.

"We need you in the briefing room now, it's urgent" Hearing Vina's voice again was heaven to her ears.

"Sure, I'll be there in a sec" Alison responded as she slipped on her converses and followed Vina across the near kilometre walk of Campus but as they started to develop into a sprint the journey only took about two minutes.

They entered the building and it was clear that the air-con was not working still as it seemed hotter outside than it did in. They moved across the near empty reception room, people behind the desk were either too indulged in a newspaper or were enjoying a cup of coffee to notice them. Vina pressed the button to call the elevator and seconds later the doors opened. The inside wasn't exactly clean which showed that the elevator had been used many times and no one had had the decency to come along and give it a quick wash out.  
The elevator began to rise and there was silence apart from the sound of machinery above them straining to pull the large metal container upwards. As the elevator began to slow Alison's stomach seemed to drop further that it should have as gravity took over their change in speed as the elevator began to slow down again.  
The doors opened once more to reveal the briefing room; it was five floors up and had huge glass windows that gave an amazing view of the campus below. She was the first one there and spent her time by staring out of the window. Black clouds littered the sky and soon the downpour took place. The patting rain drowned out the squeaking of the elevator as it rose up to the fifth floor but got her attention when the doors opened with an even louder squeal. She turned and her face lit up in a smile as her eyes made contact with familiar faces.

"You will be working with Ryan Sharma and Fu Ning" The voice belonged to James Adams who had become one of the few briefing instructors a few years ago.

The documents were given out, all three had their own names printed on the front and what lay inside would determine their role on the mission. The front had a picture of Cherub's logo which covered at least half the page and the text was written in capitals which stated:

MISSION BRIEFING:

FOR ALISON DALIS

DO NOT REMOVE FROM CAMPUS  
DO NOT COPY THIS DOCUMENT OR MAKE NOTES

There was silence as they read through the several pages of documents.

"No way!" Ryan nearly shouted, breaking the silence and scaring the hell out of Ning and Alison. "I swear this guy was dead two years ago!" He added.

"That's what we also thought, but it looks like either his ex-wife is a lousy shot or Mr Aramov got extremely lucky." James commented.

"This bastard is still alive!?" Ning shouted, adding to the anger that Ryan had already shown.

"Who is this guy?" Alison asked, she felt like she was missing a vital piece of the puzzle as she had no idea why two of her closest friends hated this guy's guts.

"This bastard killed my step-mum, that's who this shit-face is!" Ning shouted, her tone was vicious but Alison knew that Ning wouldn't shout at her like that if they were in a different situation.

Ning and Ryan continued to rant on which gave Alison some time to read through her own document, the first page started off with the main target and his role of terrorism.

* * *

LEONID ARAMOV

Irena Aramov's son who was supposed to gain the role of second in command after she had passed away, however after Irena found that Leonid was stealing money from her bank accounts she banished him from the Aramov clan where his two sons (ALEX ARAMOV and BORIS ARAMOV) followed their father after he was kicked out after Irena forcefully removed his ear in warning. Irena's grandson ETHAN ARAMOV helped her in recovering the money from Leonid's bank accounts and managed to lock him out of one before the TFU stepped in and locked both Ethan and Leonid out of the other accounts and made sure that the money did not fall back into the hands of the Aramov Clan. He moved to Mexico with his two sons and was soon re-united with his ex-wife TAMARA ARAMOV and his youngest son ANDRE ARAMOV who were working undercover for the TFU and Cherub to determine what Leonid was planning to do after he was banished. Andre found the blueprints to a PGSLM missile construction facility and used his father's SAT NAV system to find the facility where retired agent JAMES ADAMS used one of his own missiles to destroy Leonid's construction lines. The missile caused massive amounts of destruction to the surrounding area so stopping the development of this missile caused some stress to be taken off of the remaining mission. Tamara supposedly killed her ex-husband while he was in the bath with a bullet to the head, however upon closer inspection of the body it was clear that she had missed the shot and hit Leonid in a vital part of his nervous system which caused him to go into unconsciousness for several weeks. He was declared dead when he arrived at the hospital as his pulse had diminished but his body was declared missing when it was planned to be taken to a nearby morgue and to be awaited for burial. The body was not found and was declared as missing but major organisations such as the TFU did not worry about this as they had got reports of his death.

It has become clear that Leonid Aramov had set up a new ARAMOV CLAN alongside his two sons as second in command and is working for a Russian name ALEXSEI (last name unknown), upon contact he has agreed to work with the TFU to report Leonid's doings. Leonid has agreed to split his earnings from the missiles by half, however it is unknown yet if Leonid is selling these missiles to other terrorist groups or the government, furthermore if Leonid still has control of these missiles then he is a lethal target and must be stopped by any means necessary.

MISSION ROLES

We believe that the people who attacked ALISON DALIS on her way back from school in the Wednesday evening were men working for Leonid Aramov, however their role of causing harm to Alison is unknown and we believe that sending her on this mission would be risky if her appearance is not altered (Hair colour and make-up). Alison will take the role of Alexsei's niece and RYAN SHARMA will take the role of Alexsei's nephew where they will then be admitted to enter Alexsei's secret bunker and be able to keep their eye on Leonid's doings while remaining low in suspicion. Ning has had previous contact with the target so sending her face-to-face with Leonid would have a chance of jeopardizing the mission altogether and may cost us the lives of our agents or Leonid's location. Ning will remain in a submersible with retired agent JAMES ADAMS and monitor the CCTV system which Alexsei will give us permission to use for the duration of the mission. James Adams will also be on radio contact and will advise Alison and Ryan through their mission.

IN CASE OF EMERGANCY

If for any reason the mission goes wrong and the lives of either Alison or Ryan are put at risk it is commanded that they are removed from the mission at the earliest moment and returned to campus WITHOUT delay.

NOTE

This mission was accepted by The Cherub Ethics Committee, on condition that Alison Dalis, Ryan Sharma and Fu Ning all understand the following:

This mission has been classed as a MEDIUM RISK and all agents chosen for this mission are reminded of their right to refuse or withdraw from this mission at any time.

* * *

The document finished there, the ranting had died down a bit but Ning was still in fury after hearing that her step-mum's murderer was still alive but was cursing to herself and was no longer filling the air with her screaming. Alison looked up and closed the document where the huge emblem of Cherub showed once more.

"Clear?" James asked

"Crystal" Alison replied.

James walked over to the desk and piled a few pieces of paper on top of each other before picking them up and looking back at Alison

"You sure you want to go through with this? You _do_ have the option to decline the mission" James asked, making sure that all of this wasn't scaring their new agent.

Alison looked over to her two friends who were indulged in their documents and smiled before answering

"Wouldn't miss it for the world" Alison cheerfully replied. James smiled

"Better get ready then" He instructed as he awaited the last two's replies.

* * *

The helicopter descended, the rain was heavy and the strong wind was causing the helicopter to sway as it tried to land. Alison's hair was dyed blonde and was put into plats, she hated them, she looked like a typical goody-two-shoes type of school girl all she needed now was the uniform to go with it.

"Ah, I'm glad to see you arrived!" Alexsei shouted over the sound of the running propellers. He greeted them both with a hug. Alexsei had the role of their uncle, which he had been told he would be to them just days earlier.

"Let us get inside, disgusting weather out her, eh?" Alexsei added, while still shouting over the running propellers and the wailing wind.

They ran in the building and into cover, the inside of the building looked very modern, just like an office block reception. Stairs led them closer and closer to the center of the Earth. The patter of rain outside faded as they made their way further and further down the steps. The stairs levelled out and revealed a huge labyrinth of twisted corridors and various rooms. The walls shone with a bright frost white metallic colour that seemed to reflect the light that emanated from the lights above.

"I'll show you where you'll be staying while dad is on his business trip" Alexsei tried to remain formal to show that these two children were family and he was doing a very good job of it.

They rounded the corner and bumped into a figure that was walking the other way, the impact caused them to come to a halt. Alison looked up and saw the face that she easily remembered from her briefing document. It was Leonid Aramov!

"Ah Leonid! Good to see you friend! Let me introduce you to me niece, Jasmine and my nephew, Sam"

"Nice to meet you two, I'm sorry to disturb you Alexsei, I'll be on my way" Leonid stated, seeming to be desperate to get away to somewhere. Alexsei watched Leonid until the corner blocked his line of sight.

"He suspects something, this is _not _good…" Alexsei said to himself but was loud enough for Ryan and Alison to hear.

* * *

Something wasn't right, he swore that Alexsei's niece looked somewhat familiar to him but he knew that the chance of the TFU knowing of his survival was very small so he let the thought fly. He knew that Alexsei would soon use the missiles against him; it was time to make the first move.


	8. Chapter 8 - An Unexpected Turn

**Chapter 8 – An Unexpected Turn**

Leonid's construction of the PGSLM missile had grinded to a halt within days. He was running low on missile shells but more importantly, explosives. He had not revealed the location of his facility to Alexsei as he was almost certain that he would use what he had earned from him to somehow overcome him and have the ability to command him around like a lab rat. But Leonid was having none of it, he knew he had to get rid of Alexsei soon and if it came down to more extreme measures then he would as sure as hell do it. This would in no doubt send his workers into a state of tragedy in search of a new leader. This is where Leonid would step in. That would give him the power to command people around like he did back at the Kremlin and give him the power that he had desired for years. The thought made Leonid smile, he could see it all happening as he closed his eyes but as he opened his eyes he found himself being pulled down from the power that he desired. He had to anonymously eliminate Alexsei even if he was to have a chance at this but he needed men who were willing to betray him but for the right price it wouldn't be hard to convince them. Leonid stared back at the dormant conveyor belts, he needed Boris with the shipment or taking out Alexsei without suspicion would be _very _hard.

"Where the hell is he!?" Leonid questioned to himself as he turned away from the construction lines and began to walk down the empty underground corridor.

* * *

Boris drove down the motorway that had few cars travelling on it but they remained in the slow lane as too many were too tired to even attempt an overtake. This left the fast lane open and allowed Boris to floor the accelerator and send the truck to its full velocity. He had his window open and had his arm hanging out. He got the occasional driver or two who would swear at him for excessive speeding which he would reply with a simple middle finger gesture with a smug smile. The fuel gauge was heading into the large red area that marked "EMPTY". Boris pulled into the next service station and started to refuel; he pulled out the hose from the pump and slotted it into the small hole that led to the fuel tank. There was no one around and he was casually minding his own business as he heard the safety being turned off on a gun behind him. He turned and was face-to-face with a barrel of a pistol.

"Hey, we can settle this like ordinary human beings" Boris said cheerfully.

The figure stepped close which allowed the light to illuminate his face. The man looked to be in his late forties to early fifties. He had shaved white hair and a stubby little beard which remained the same colour.

"That's what I hoped" The man replied but did not lower the gun as he approached further, he was waiting for the sudden threat that would allow him to send the bullet flying. As the man approached further Boris pulled his own gun on the man which caused him to back away slightly but kept the gun steady with his head. The woman working inside glanced out the window and was the two men with lethal weapons. She let out a scream as she saw the gun, the men were in earshot to hear the scream but none of them hindered to the sudden sound.

"I suggest you give yourself up Mr Aramov, this can all end here" The man tried to convince but Boris didn't feel threatened enough and was having none of it, he let out a laugh that he hoped would annoy his opponent enough for him to try the first move.

"It's only you, I can be done with you and get out of here before _anyone_ can stop me! It's only you…" Boris was cut off as he heard several other safety catches being switched off, he looked around and saw that he was significantly outnumbered.

"…And my boys" The man finished "So I suggest you put the gun down and put your hands on the bonnet" The man added.

This time Boris complied and put him hands on the cold metal bonnet. His face was forced into it and he was restrained and the handcuffs were fitted around his wrists.

"Search the vehicle" The man ordered few other men who were now surrounding the vehicle.

They opened the back which revealed the large quantities of missile shells and high explosives. As one man shut the back doors another opened the driver's door, he reached over to the glove box on the other side and his eyes filled with terror as the glove box fell open and welcomed him with a blinking red light.

"Bomb!" He screamed as he jumped from the vehicle. Three, the other men's faces were devoid of colour. Two, their feet leapt into motion leaving Boris to his fate. One, the men continued to run. Zero.

* * *

Leonid sat at his desk resting his head against the table. He started to get worried about Boris, he was meant to be back two hours ago and there was still no sign of him.

Alex, his nineteen year old son appeared around the corner and entered the room but Leonid remained.

"Dad?" Alex got Leonid's attention as he looked up in sorrow "I have news regarding Boris…" He added.

Leonid said nothing but gestured him to continue.

"He…" Alex paused, unable to come to terms with the truth himself "…dead" He finished.

Leonid looked back down at his desk and he began to cry, it was the first time that Alex had seen his own father break down in front of him.

"There's one other thing… The TFU were behind it" Alex added but soon regretted that he hadn't

Leonid's body filled with rage fuelled with the sorrow that was still building up inside him. He pushed his chair backwards violently as he viciously threw himself to his feet. The chair collided with the back wall and made a loud smash as it made contact with the wall. He stormed past Alex and headed down the corridor, a feeling of dread flooded through Alex as he knew that his dad was going to do something that he was going to deeply regret sooner or later. He remained still determining whether it would be a good idea to leave his dad alone or to follow him and at least try to calm him down a bit before he ended up getting himself killed. In the end he turned and followed in the footsteps of his outraged father.


	9. Chapter 9 - A Turn For The Worst

**Chapter 9 – A Turn For The Worst**

  
"Report, over" James's voice came through the ear piece, however Ryan was first to answer the call.

"I read, suspicious I would put it, Leonid's been quite passive since we've been here. I think he may be laying low for a bigger attack." Ryan replied

"I would say that too, it would be very unusual if he stayed quiet for the rest of his life. There must be something that he's planning, if you get a chance then check out his office." James acknowledged Ryan's point

"One of us will do soon" Ryan answered.

"Oh, I nearly forgot, try turning your TV to the news channel. There's something you need to see."

It took some time but eventually they found the remote in the drawer by their beds, they hadn't tried to interact with the TV which they probably should have done as it may have caused some attention that two typical teenagers weren't acting as they would have done out in society. The TV flickered on and lit up with a massive fire at a petrol station, there were already fire-fighters at the scene but it looked to be a losing battle as the fire kept spreading along the remaining fuel along the ground.

"What happened!?" Alison asked shocked.

"_That _is the remains of Boris's truck that loaded Leonid's explosives for his missiles" James answered calmly.

"So I can presume he's deader than dead now?" Alison asked

"Yup" was all James replied with.

"About bloody time" Ning's voice came through.

A smile washed across Alison's face as she greeted her old friend once again.

"Good to hear your voice again Ning"

"Yours too dear" Ning replied before the comm channel was cut off once more. Alison sat at the edge of the bed and wondered how much longer they were going to be forced to stay there. The glowing white walls around her gave the illusion that that they were closing in around her and started to make her feel very uncomfortable.

"I'm going for a walk, staying in here is making me uncomfortable. I'll try to check Leonid's office if no one's home" Alison said as she rose from the bed.

"Alright, see you soon and try not to get caught" Ryan replied

"Didn't plan to be" Alison joked as she looked towards Ryan. He smiled back before slumping back on the bed and closing his eyes.

Alison left the room but the silence that lingered in the halls didn't help the sense that the world was closing on her. She checked her watch and saw that it was only 3am Russian time, no wonder why the hallways seemed to be devoid of life. She turned around several corners and soon found herself completely lost within the labyrinth of corridors but soon found her way to the hallway where Leonid's office was located. She went to turn the corner but the figure of Leonid emerging from the doorway made her think otherwise. She put her back to the wall and peaked around to see Leonid storming off down the hall with his _now_ only other son Alex in tow. Leonid must have been in rage about the death of Boris which would give him the perfect reason to attack the TFU or engage in an act of terrorism as an act of revenge.  
Leonid and Alex disappeared around the corner. Now was the time. She ran from her hiding space and ran for the office door; she opened it slowly and closed it slightly behind her. As she entered the office she saw that it had been luxuriously laid out, luscious red carpet and high stacked bookshelves, it was a shame that the smell of dried coffee and a few flipped over chairs made the room look more untidy than it should have done. Leonid's desk was littered with different documents, receipts and other useless crap but one piece caught her eye, it was laid out very neatly and had bold underlined subheadings. It was a shame it was all written in Russian as it made Alison's job of translating much harder. She read on the pieces of the puzzle began to fit together nicely but after a short time of reading she wished the pieces hadn't fallen into place as easily as they did. She made out the sentence of the bomb with a football game but it hadn't revealed which one would be specifically targeted. She dropped the document and dashed from the room before contacting James.

"Got something?" James asked sounding very tired.

"Is there a football game tomorrow and if so what time?" Alison asked.

"You're on an undercover mission, not a holiday trip!" James shouted back

"No! I'm serious, I need to know!" Alison countered.

"Fine, but this better be worth it" James replied before going silent for a few seconds.

"Yes, Dubai at 1pm, why did you want to know?" James added.

"James, you need to listen to me now! Leonid is planning to use some of his missiles against the game in order to gain revenge for the TFU killing Boris, you _need_ to stop that game tomorrow!" Alison was almost shouting but knew that she had to keep her voice down before anyone heard and gave the game away.

"Ok, I'm sorry for shouting at you but you need to calm down. Me and Ning will do our best to warn the authorities and prevent that game from and get the army involved to blow that missile out of the air. You did good kiddo, just remember that". James said and the comm link shut down after his sentence.

Alison couldn't help herself feeling proud of her find but also quite concerned because if something went wrong at the game despite of the evacuation it could still cause the loss of quite a few lives.

* * *

The game in Dubai was postponed about half an hour before it was scheduled to start, however this caused many fans to be turned away in disappointment. The army were called in to deal with the airborne missile and to clear up any threats of riots that seemed almost certain to arise. In the end the fans were forced to either return home or forced to get away from the stadium.

The missile started to make it's decent over Dubai at 11:50 and was shot down on first sight, the missile caused no damage to anyone or the surrounding area but threat levels still remained high and was due to stay that way for the next week.

* * *

"Nice catch Alison, if not for you we would have a major catastrophe on our hands by now" James reported through her ear-piece.

"Why did he target an event like that rather than the TFU directly?" Alison questioned.

"Well I believe that it was to make himself known and to be feared again by the TFU by not attacking them directly but leaving the fear that he is capable to." James began "But if his plan failed he might have had something else up his sleeve to pull off so we need you two to keep a desperate eye out for anything that you'd consider out of the ordinary"

"I see" It made perfect sense. Leonid wanted the world to know and fear him once more because if he was considered a dead man and was walking around under a false name then it would be nearly impossible to track him down and the fake I.D could grant him access to other countries and the TFU and Cherub could lose him for good. Alison's eyes felt heavy as she approached the bed in their room but a massive explosion threw her off balance and caused the whole facility to shake. She fell forward towards the bed and the side of her head collided with the side support bar and she fell to the floor. Her world seemed to fill with stars and the pain in the left side of her head was excruciating. She lifted her hand to the source of pain and as she pulled it away she saw the worrying small pool of blood in her hand.

"Jesus! You ok?" Ryan asked but the voice seemed very distant to her.

The lights above sparked on and off as the circuitry struggled to keep the current flowing after the previous explosion. Alison tried to stand but her vision seemed to shake and caused her to fall back on all fours, she wasn't getting out of here alone. Ryan had managed to find his footing and had survived most of the violent explosions and shaking but had a few small cuts here and there. He put his arm around her and slung her arm around him as he pulled her to her feet and gave her a source of balance. He began to walk to the door but could feel Alison was not right as her strength began to fade from her and at times it felt like she was going to collapse but Ryan kept her sturdy. Alexsei appeared round the doorway but another distant explosion sent him off balance and caused him to rely on the door-frame for balance. Alison fell to the floor again but she lacked the strength, it felt like her whole body was slowly going numb on her, she managed to hold herself up on her hands and knees but that was the most her body was going to let her do. Alexsei kneeled down and took a gently grip on her chin and slowly pulled her head up until she was looking into his eyes, he then turned her head slowly once to one side then to the other.

"Mild concussion" He stated as he allowed her head to fall again. "Your friend should be here soon, go to the right then the left and he should be there by the time you get there." He added.

"What about you?" Ryan asked as Alexsei went to exit.

"I've got to see who's behind this" Alexsei replied, he stopped for not a moment longer and disappeared from sight.

Ryan tried to help Alison to her feet but her legs kept giving out underneath her but she soon found the energy needed to keep herself on her feet for a bit. They exited the room and followed Alexsei's instructions and nearly collided with James as the rounded the corner.

"You two ok?" He asked, clearly not studying Alison's condition.

"Not really, she's losing..." Was all Ryan was able to say before Alison's weight suddenly overwhelmed him and she fell from his grip unconscious.

James moved with lightning fast reflexes as he caught her under the arms before she made contact with the floor and caused more damage to herself.

"We need to get her out of here or her condition is only going to get worse." James stated as he lifted Alison's limp body by supporting her head with his arm and using his other free arm to hold her under her knees and he began to run through the maze of hallways.


End file.
